History is full of examples of the government taking on projects that are huge because they believe they wouldn't happen otherwise. History is also full of examples of projects that businesses took on because they were needed. My favorite example of the latter is one of Obama's talking points when he claims that the government is indispensable.

So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. Thats how we funded the GI Bill. Thats how we created the middle class. Thats how we built the Golden Gate Bridge...

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Turns out that the government actually did everything it could to stop the Golden Gate bridge, and that, ultimately, it was built because of one man.

In fact, it was the One Percenters, as is the term coined of the rich and powerful these days, that built the Golden Gate, not government. More importantly, it was government that posed more obstacles for the building of the bridge than any other entity and if the Department of Defense had their way it never would have been built at all.

Some basic research into the building of the bridge indicated that the original architect of the bridge, Joseph Strauss (who also designed a bridge to be built over the Bering Strait) faced numerous obstacles from government after his original proposal to them in 1921. Several years earlier the government had done a study about building a bridge in those waters and had come to the conclusion that it was impossible to build a bridge from the city to Marin County. San Francisco City Engineer Michael O'Shaughnessy had requested the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey to make soundings of the channel bottom. The U.S.S. Natoma completed the sounding of the channel in May 1920, and after receiving the Natoma's survey data, O'Shaughnessy consults engineers from around the country about feasibility and cost. Many say it cannot be done, and if it can be the cost would exceed $100 million. The idea was then shelved until Strauss comes forward with his design.

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A second problem in 1929 when the US Stock Market collapsed made for more problems. The Golden Gate committee now has trouble issuing the bond needed for the construction of the bridge, even though the citizens of the surrounding area had put up their own personal lands and farms as collateral. It takes 3 more years and the wealthy President and founder of Bank of America, A.P. Giannini, to personally buy the 35 million dollar bond which he then finances through the bank. Without the bank and the intervention of private industry fueled by personal wealth, again the bridge would not have been built. By 1937 the bridge is completedand Strauss delivers the bridge 1.7 million UNDER budget, using local non-union labor and private contractors.

I just haven't seen where he was, specifically, talking about government.

He merely said they didn't get there on their own.
They didn't.
Without a demand and a customer base there wouldn't have been a reason to start their business.

I've been wrong before.....ask my wife.
But I just don;t see where he was giving government the credit.

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Are you trying to tell me that when he starts listing all those projects, like the Hoover Dam, the highways, and the railroads, and claims that they were not built by business, he wasn't trying to give government the credit? How, exactly, do you come to that conclusion?

I just haven't seen where he was, specifically, talking about government.

He merely said they didn't get there on their own.
They didn't.
Without a demand and a customer base there wouldn't have been a reason to start their business.

I've been wrong before.....ask my wife.
But I just don;t see where he was giving government the credit.

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You have to look at what he said in the context of what he was discussing..or rather orating about. He said," And that somebody includes the government: public investments in roads, bridges, schools, the Internet, etc.  this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive,

His intent is to say that since the government helped YOU be successful, you owe government something more than people who don't have that success.

I just haven't seen where he was, specifically, talking about government.

He merely said they didn't get there on their own.
They didn't.
Without a demand and a customer base there wouldn't have been a reason to start their business.

I've been wrong before.....ask my wife.
But I just don;t see where he was giving government the credit.

Click to expand...

You have to look at what he said in the context of what he was discussing..or rather orating about. He said," And that somebody includes the government: public investments in roads, bridges, schools, the Internet, etc.  this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive,

His intent is to say that since the government helped YOU be successful, you owe government something more than people who don't have that success.

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I don't owe the government anything. They owe me protection of my rights and an opportunity to pursue life, liberty and happiness. The fruits of that opportunity are mine and mine alone.

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